After two weeks of relatively inactive weather across the southern and central plains, finally an opportunity for another storm chase presented itself. April 30 had some promise for severe weather and I was anxious to do some travelling and chase in my favorite part of the country, the Texas panhandle!

Saturday April 14, the main event that the three of us were waiting for had finally arrived. A high risk day across the central plains, one that had already made the record books before it even began! The team was excited and we all thought and said to each other ‘if we don’t see a tornado today, we are doing something wrong!’.

After the complete bust of a day we had chasing April 12, we were itching to get into some storm action. Fortunately we had some better luck on April 13th in what one may argue as the the very heart of tornado alley, the Oklahoma City/Norman metro area.

Back to back chase days following the successful chase in southwest Oklahoma the day before didn’t leave much time to rest. But with a ‘Moderate’ risk of severe weather and the target area very close to home, how could I not chase on my own home turf? No tornadoes occurred within north Texas on March [read more...]

With much anticipation and planning, my first storm chase of the 2012 season on March 18 was a successful one! One tornado and one funnel cloud were observed, the funnel as it was occluding and the tornado during its entire 3 minute length. The entire trip took 15 hours 35 minutes, drove 772 miles, and cost $104.44 in fuel.

Two sets of galleries taken this autumn season at Joe Pool Lake in southwest Dallas County. Sunsets illuminating already vibrant fall colors along the hilly tree filled backdrop of Cedar Hill makes for a truly beautiful sight here in the D/FW Metroplex.

Scattered thunderstorms which developed along a southward moving cold front produced some of the most photogenic lightning I have ever captured! These storms brought some beneficial rain to the region, but I think the main headline from this event is the intense and quite impressive night time lightning show.

Signs of the worst 1 year drought in Texas state history are apparent here at Joe Pool Lake. The lake surface has fallen several feet, and in some areas retreated down the shore by a good 40 or 50 feet from normal.

My four day road trip out to the central Colorado Rocky Mountains to see Pikes Peak, Cripple Creek and other area attractions. Four days just isn’t enough for all the things to see out there either! I got to visit the summit of Pikes Peak, a 14,110 foot tall mountain with a road to the [read more...]

Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Collin County This storm has a small hail core near Custer Road and SR 121, moving North East twards McKinney. The worst of it just bairly missed Frisco so be glad we did not get hailed on.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for southwestern Denton County. This is mainly for large hail and some gusty winds. This storm motion is taking it slowly to the east, so this may impact Frisco in an hour or two. Multiple outflow boundaries are colliding over the metroplex at this time including one right over Frisco. This [read more...]

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for the entire DFW Metroplex including Frisco. This watch is valid until 11pm tonight, issued mainly for a risk of severe hail and winds. Tornado potential is low today. There are numerous outflow boundaries slowly moving around the Metroplex at this time, visible on radar. These storms are [read more...]

Mother nature is mocking me. Today the SPC has bumped our area into a slight severe storm risk for hail and straight line winds. Looks like afternoon temps will increase throughout the day into the 90s, this coupled with ample low level moisture and existing instability should kick off some severe storms which will likely [read more...]

Got some cool photos of a park in Palo Pinto County Texas called Possum Kingdom. Very rural area except for this lake where there are houses all around it. Took a hike to a hill about 200 feet above the rest of the area and got some nice pics. See below for gallery. [nggallery id=30]

Looks like the chase days for the rest of my vacation are numbered. Low pressure system camping out in the Gulf is moving ashore Saturday, killing any chances of wide spread organized severe weather through Tuesday. To top it off, it will be rain showers and general thunderstorms all Memorial Day weekend, so sight seeing [read more...]

Rain. Looks like intermittent rain showers and storms will impact the entire region Saturday and Sunday with chances between 50 to 60%. Storms are possible Monday as well but chances are sitting at 30%. Storms will be efficient rain producers especially on Saturday. While severe storms are not likely either day, an isolated storm may [read more...]

Well, after an exhausting 34 hours of driving in 54 hours time, I am back home. I used Thursday to travel back from Kearney Nebraska to Frisco Texas. Looking at the upcoming weather forecasts, looks like I am not missing much. I read a cool blog entry where the VORTEX2 team actually intercepted a supercell [read more...]

This storm still looks capable of producing a tornado, is moving offshore and over Clearwater beach. It started near Largo, moved through Bellair, into Clearwater then currently is over Clearwater beach. Below is radar snap of the storm at 12:42pm EDT. You can see the storm has a hook echo on the standard reflectivity (left) [read more...]